Luther College breaks single-year fundraising record with more than $33 million committed

DECORAH — With a multimillion dollar gift from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, Luther College has broken its record for the most funds raised in one year.

The Decorah-based private university announced in a news release Friday that the anonymous person’s donation, which will be put to scholarships for future students, is the second-largest planned gift to Luther College. More than $33 million has been committed to the college this fiscal year, topping the previous record of $26.1 million set in 2005-06.

“On behalf of all our current students, faculty and staff, we are so very thankful to those who have supported the mission of Luther College this year,” Vice President for Development Mary Duvall said in the release. “We have been so excited by some of the transformational gifts we have received in recent months, and we continue to be grateful for the groundswell of individuals who have stepped up to support Luther in the past year.”

Luther College also received its largest-ever individual gift this year in the form of a $10 million commitment from Michael and Nicole Gerdin and the Gerdin Charitable Foundation. The money will go to renovating the Regents Center and renaming it the Gerdin Fieldhouse for Athletics and Wellness. The fieldhouse also received a $2 million donation from Dennis and Suzanne Birkestrand, the news release stated, which will support the renovation and have its court named the Birkestrand Family Court. Its opening phase will begin this summer.

Giving Day records were also broken at the college, with $1.2 million raised for Luther’s unrestricted fund to support “all students, faculty, staff and community endeavors on campus,” according to the news release. The college’s athletics department had its most successful fundraising day on record as well, receiving more than $365,000 in donations.

More than 9,000 individual gifts were donated to the university this academic year, according to the news release.

“The fact that we had all these records in a single year speaks to the tremendous momentum behind Luther College and the belief in the college’s future,” Luther College President Jenifer Ward said in the release. “These aren’t just gifts. They are investments by our alumni, friends, and supporters.”

This article was first published by Iowa Capital Dispatch.